Cigarette lighters, especially those which are portable and intended to be carried in a pocket or purse, generally comprise a container or reservoir for fuel, and a nozzle or wick in communication with the reservoir and adjacent an igniter for producing a flame. Such lighters must be filled periodically, or, as is more common at present, discarded when the fuel supply is exhausted. Inasmuch as a supply of replenishing fuel is usually not available, the lighter becomes useless upon exhaustion of the fuel. The fuel itself is usually a liquified gas or a flammable liquid which often has an unpleasant odor, and it is not uncommon that the fuel will leak out of the reservoir over a period of time, which, especially in the case of flammable liquid fuel, can present a safety hazard, as does the use of an open flame. Lighters relying upon a flame are difficult to use in windy conditions, and the art is replete with devices for rendering the lighter at least partially windproof.
Lighters designed to overcome the disadvantages of fueled lighters relying upon open flame have been directed primarily to electrically activated devices which generate heat by passing current through a heating coil. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,007,027 of Hall there is shown one such lighter in which a receptacle having a heating coil therein is adapted to receive the end of a cigarette. When the body of the lighter is squeezed, current passes through the coil sufficient to heat it to a temperature sufficient to ignite a cigarette. One potential hazard with such a design is the possibility that the case, when carried in a crowded purse, for example, will be compressed enough to activate the heating coil. Inasmuch as there is no shielding mechanism, this could cause ignition of articles within the purse adjacent to the lighter.
U.S. Pat. 3,392,265 of King et al shows an electrical lighter utilizing a heating coil, which has a protective arrangement for pivoting the heating coil into the interior of the lighter away from the cigarette receptacle when the lighter is not in use, and which prevents activation of the coil in that position, thus materially reducing the fire hazard.
Lighters which use batteries to activate heating coils suffer primarily from a short battery life because of heavy current demands, hence relatively frequent battery replacement or recharging is required. In addition, the heating coil tends to collect ashes and unburned tobacco thereon which may get into the lighter interior, thereby necessitating frequent cleaning.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,849,585 of Evans is shown an electrically operated optical arrangement for igniting the end of a cigarette in which a high intensity light bulb is used. Insertion of a cigarette end into the lighter activates an aperture switch arm and a switch to turn the light bulb on, and a condenser lens and mirror arrangement focuses the image of the bulb filament through the aperture on to the cigarette end, thereby igniting it. The electrical power to light the bulb is supplied by household current. Because the bulb generates a great deal of heat, it is necessary that there be a cooling air circulation within the lighter. Such a lighter arrangement eliminates the problems inherent in heating coil type lighters, but it is bulky, non-portable, complex and the bulb generates a great deal of heat.